Juniperus communis L. Ukrainian name – yalovets zvichayny, popular names – yalіvets, borovytsya, dzharep, dzhenipina, etc.
Cypress family – Cupressaceae.
For therapeutic purposes, cones are used.
Occurs in Polissya, Transcarpathia, Carpathians, Carpathians and very rarely in the Forest-Steppe. Grows in pine forests, forest edges and clearings, bushes. Sometimes it forms sparse thickets on tens and even hundreds of hectares (Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn regions). The average annual harvesting of juniper berries in the republic for three years (1974-1976) amounted to 23.7 tons.
Stocks of raw materials are large (tens of tons of cones can be harvested annually), but they are decreasing as a result of uprooting bushes and planting forests in their places.
Common juniper is an evergreen shrub or small tree. Bush forms are multi-stemmed, rounded; woody – single-barreled, cone-shaped. Branches hanging or pressed against the trunk. Young shoots are reddish-brown, trihedral. The old bark is grey, flaky. Leaves (needles) three in whorls. Plants are dioecious or monoecious. Berry-shaped cones (cones) are almost sessile, 2-3 times shorter than the needles, black-blue, with a bluish bloom, fleshy. Seeds are oval-triangular. The cones ripen in the second or third year in September-October. The use of cones of Cossack juniper and Siberian juniper is not allowed.
In the Crimean mountains there are also red juniper – Juniperus oxycedrus L., m. undersized – I. Pygmaeae C. To about ch. (/. depressa S te ve n), m. smelly – J. foetidissima Wi 11 d, m. tall J. excelsa B ie b., whose cones are also not to be harvested.
Mature cones are harvested in autumn (September-October). To do this, tarpaulins or other fabrics are spread under the bushes and cone berries are shaken off on them, lightly hitting the branches with wooden sticks. Sometimes they shake off the bush with their hands. Then, on sieves, cones are separated from needles and other impurities.
They are dried in attics under an iron roof with good ventilation, spreading a thin layer on cloth or paper. It is not allowed to dry in dryers or ovens (with all this, the berries lose their medicinal properties). The yield of dry raw materials is 40-45%.
According to GOST 2802-69, the raw material consists of black-brown spherical-oval cones with a diameter of 6-9 mm, sometimes with a bluish wax coating. The smell when rubbed is peculiar, aromatic. The taste is sweetish, spicy. Humidity is not higher than 20%. Not more than 9.5% of unripe or brown berries are allowed in raw materials, including 0.5% of green ones; 1% other parts of juniper and other berries, 0.5% mineral impurities.
Ash content should not exceed 5%, and essential oil should not be less than 0.5%.
Raw materials are packed in bags weighing 45 kg. Store in a packaged form in dry, well-ventilated areas. Storage period up to 3 years. Re-control is not performed.
Cone berries contain essential oil (up to 2%), which contains pinene, cadinene, terpiniol, sugar (up to 40%), pectin, resins, organic acids. Used as a diuretic and disinfectant. Included in the diuretic fees. Essential oil from pine needles is used to treat trichomonas colpitis. Cone berries are widely used in the alcoholic beverage industry.